Buying a house? Don't forget to have a radon test done.

If you're buying a home in Minnesota, get it tested for radon. There are two reasons I give for having radon tested: lung cancer and money.

Radon gas is the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers, making it the second leading cause of cancer in America. Radon testing is recommended by the EPA, the Surgeon General, the American Lung Association, and the Minnesota Department of Health. The area most at risk in a home is the lowest level that gets lived in.

When a radon test is conducted as part of a real estate transaction and the test results come up high, the buyer typically asks the seller to pay for or install a radon mitigation system. These systems are extremely effective at lowering radon levels, and they cost about $1500 on average. If you buy a home and you decide not to test for radon as part of the home purchase, you can still test for radon after you own the home, but if a radon mitigation system needs to be installed, you won't have the luxury of asking someone else to pay for it. Well, I suppose you could always ask...

Picture this scenario: you buy a home, but don't have it tested for radon. Several years down the road, you sell your house. The new buyers have a radon test performed, the radon test comes up high, so the buyers ask you to install or pay for a mitigation system. You'll probably wonder why you never tested for radon when you bought the house. This happens a lot.

We hear many objections to radon testing - some are valid, some aren't.

The home doesn't have a basement. Ok, that's a good objection. We've found that most homes without basements have very low levels of radon. Basements with a walkout generally have lower levels, but we've still found our share of high radon tests at basements with walkouts.

It's new construction. Minnesota requires a passive radon mitigation system installed in every new house; this doesn't mean radon will be eliminated, it just means the chances for elevated radon levels will be reduced.

The home already has a mitigation system. If the system is working properly, the radon levels are probably very low. We've never found high radon levels in a home with a working mitigation system.

I'm buying a bank owned property or short sale, so it doesn't matter if the house has high radon levels. The sellers won't be paying to fix it, and I'll still want the house either way. Fair enough. It's still a good idea to get a do-it-yourself test after you own the house though.

I'm going to do my own test. Do-it-yourself test kits are available at home improvement stores, and even places like Target or Sears for somewhere between $10 and $25. These kits are just as accurate as the professional tests that I do, but they are not practical for a real estate transaction. For a real estate transaction, you need an unbiased third party to perform the test, and you need quick results.

Radon is a conspiracy of the government. Oh boy. I've heard this before, and I'm not going to get in to that discussion... but just for the sake of argument, let's pretend radon is a conspiracy. Who cares? Even if radon was only a percieved health problem, it would still be a liability.

Reuben Saltzman, Structure Tech Home Inspections - Email - Radon Testing in Minnesota